China builds quake monitoring station at Everest

Chinese scientists have begun operating an earthquake monitoring station at the foot of Mount Everest in a bid to learn more about the world's highest peak, an official said Monday.

The station, which began operating over the weekend, is located at about 14,000 feet (4,255 meters) in Tibet's Tingri County, said Shang Rongbo, a deputy director with the regional seismology bureau.

The station will support real-time collection of data about seismic events along the China-Nepal border, sending it by satellite to research centers elsewhere, Shang said.

Everest sits where the Eurasian plate abuts the Indian plate, the collision of which, over the ages, formed the soaring Himalayas. Severe earthquakes have hit the region in the past. The Tibetan plateau is frequently hit by minor quakes, and a massive 7.9-magnitude quake struck the Himalayan foothills in Sichuan province in May 2008, leaving nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.

China has been boosting infrastructure around Everest to handle an increasing numbers of visitors.

An 81-mile (130-kilometer) dirt track from Tingri to Everest base camp has been paved, and a cell phone tower now provides coverage all the way to the summit. The area also has a high-rise hotel, a police station - and a rising crime rate.